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Editors
Kamran M. Riaz G. Vike Vicente
Dean McGee Eye Institute Clinical Pediatrics and Ophthalmology
University of Oklahoma Georgetown University Hospital
Oklahoma City, OK, USA Washington, DC, USA

Daniel Wee Eye Doctors of Washington

Center for Sight Chevy Chase, MD, USA
Stockton, CA, USA

ISBN 978-3-030-95250-1    ISBN 978-3-030-95251-8 (eBook)

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Foreword

I have news for optics lovers and opticsphobes (my nomination for the 2022 word of the year):
this is a new book on this topic. Some will be excited by this news; (most) others will bemoan
it. In fact, all should welcome it, rush to buy it, and keep it handy for easy study and
reference.
Nothing is more fundamental to our field than optics. It’s everywhere, starting of course
with the eye itself, but including glasses, contacts, prisms, lasers, slit lamp, indirect ophthal-
moscope, indirect lens, cameras, goniolens, retinoscope, microscope, and, my personal favor-
ite, intraocular lenses. A basic knowledge of optics is essential for caring for patients, and
greater knowledge helps us do this even better.
Why a new book on optics? My longtime favorite optics book (if there is such a thing) is
Mel Rubin’s Optics for Clinicians, and Benjamin Milder and Rubin’s companion piece The
Fine Art of Prescribing Glasses without Making a Spectacle of Yourself. Both books make
optics understandable for us nonphysicists, and they do so with elegant explanations and a
warm sense of humor. However, both are outdated in that there is so much new material that is
central to ophthalmic practice.
This three-part volume is elegantly organized as an educational and clinically practical
resource. Part I emphasizes the basics: what one needs to study for written board exams. Part
II deals with topics for preparing for oral boards. But don’t be fooled: each is full of practical
information of great value in the clinic. Examples are superb chapters on astigmatism, accom-
modation and presbyopia, and prisms in Part I, and on refraction pearls, contact lenses, vision
testing, and, for those wait-listed for their SpaceX flight, vision in zero gravity.
The third part concerns optics related to surgery, and it is a wonderful compendium of all
kinds of practical information: biometry, corneal measurements, IOL calculations, postopera-
tive optical issues, and optics of refractive surgery, and it includes a chapter listing all available
IOLs, yes, all in one place.
These parts are long, which is a good thing. Each chapter stands alone as a superb resource
on its topic. Each part can serve as a study guide to be read for the task at hand (written or oral
boards, surgical optics), or one can peruse an individual chapter to get a detailed but eminently
readable discussion on nearly any topic in ophthalmic optics.
Optics for the New Millennium is clearly written, elegantly illustrated, and full of that same
warm humor that Mel Rubin employed, updated to 2022. Drs. Riaz, Vicente, and Wee have
pulled off the huge challenge of providing a wealth of information with a highly entertaining
presentation. Read a chapter, and you will be hooked.

Douglas
Houston, TX, USA D. Koch
12/4/2021 Professor and Allen, Mosbacher
and Law Chair in Ophthalmology
Cullen Eye Institute, Baylor College of Medicine

v
Preface

Perhaps the best way for me to start this book would be with an anecdote: as a distracted medical
student, I often found time (and excuses) to read books outside of medicine. In college, I majored
in Middle Eastern History, and I continued to read books related to this subject during medical
school. I came across a fascinating work, The Book of Optics (Kitāb al-Manāẓir), by Ibn al-
Haytham (965–1039), an Egyptian polymath referred to as “the father of modern optics.” In this
text, the author detailed many Optics subjects, including the camera obscura, intromission theory,
refraction, and reflection. He described the first real appreciation of the action of a convex lens to
produce a magnified image of an object - perhaps a precursor to the dreaded U+D=V equations
now studied by ophthalmology trainees. In this seven volume work, he famously contradicted the
prevailing theories of Euclid and Ptolemy, which stated that vision occurs because of rays of light
emanating from the human eye; instead, he correctly asserted that rays originate from the viewed
object and pass into the eye. I was hooked. Reading this medieval Optics textbook was my “a-ha”
moment: I knew I wanted to become an ophthalmologist.
Perhaps the best way for me to continue this introduction would be an admission. Despite my
initial enthusiasm before residency, I hated Optics as a first-year resident. Like many residents,
I found Optics to be abstruse, boring, and unimportant – instead, I thought to myself: Who cares
about this silly incoming light ray and whether it refracts, diffracts, or reflects? How will that
help my patient with this dense cataract see again? And like many trainees, I didn’t care to study
it much during that first year and instead focused on learning “real” ophthalmology conditions
with vision-threatening implications. Unsurprisingly, on my first-year in-service exam, I got a
10th percentile in Optics. Perhaps my score shouldn’t have been so surprising…
After I received my score, I thought to myself, while I am not the most intelligent person in
the world, this subject can’t be impossible to learn. I realized that the “joy” of Optics that led
me to ophthalmology had been lost somewhere along the way. Unfortunately, there weren’t
many subject resources written for people like myself: people with limited brain cells who
ultimately wanted to know and appreciate why they should care about Optics. I took it upon
myself as a challenge: I wanted to (painstakingly and patiently) read every Optics resource
available and teach myself the subject in a way that made sense to me. In my last year of train-
ing, I was fortunate to have my good friend, Daniel Wee, MD, teach our ophthalmology resi-
dency program Optics, and I started to finally understand Geometric Optics. Shortly after that,
I came across a series of outstanding Optics lectures by my other good friend Vike Vicente,
MD, especially regarding Clinical Optics and Refraction. Both of these finally made the sub-
ject matter understandable to me.
When I began to teach Optics to my junior colleagues, I wanted to distill what I learned into
something beneficial to the next generation of ophthalmologists. Therefore, I adopted a teach-
ing style that maintained the academic integrity of the subject matter, but also heavily incorpo-
rated clinical relevance, surgical applicability, and plenty of humor – mainly to keep my
students awake! Over the years, numerous residents and course attendees encouraged me to
write a text, presented in my teaching style, that combined all the knowledge of Optics needed
for certification exams and clinical/surgical practice into a one-stop-shop text. While many
excellent Optics resources are available, I could not find a single, comprehensive resource that
combined all of this Optics material into a single textbook with sufficient practice questions

vii
viii Preface

that could be used during training and in practice, especially one written in a manner and style
that could educate and engage readers.
In September 2019, I finally decided to attempt this ambitious (and slightly audacious) plan
to create such a work. I also knew that I could not accomplish this on my own, especially not
while maintaining a busy cornea and refractive surgery academic practice. I reached out to
Vike and Danny to see if they would be interested (and crazy enough) to join me on this chal-
lenging (and perhaps Quixotic) project to write such a book – an optics textbook for the new
millennium. Amazingly they were crazy enough to agree. Their contributions to this project go
beyond simply writing words and drawing images – while many words can be said regarding
how thankful I am to both of them for saying yes, I can say with all sincerity that this work
would have never been possible without their agreeing to be my partners in crime. Since this
book is our group effort, I will now intentionally switch from the first-person singular tense
into a first-person plural tense for the rest of these opening comments.
What we present here is a textbook that embodies our teaching philosophy toward Optics:
through our irreverence, we hope to show our reverence for the subject matter so that our stu-
dents will similarly appreciate how Optics permeates every facet of ophthalmology and learn
something along the way. We want our readers to learn Optics to pass their certification exams
but, more importantly, to deliver excellent care to their patients. Thus, while there are many
tongue-in-cheek jokes and humor (liberally) sprinkled throughout the text, we have not sacri-
ficed the scientific accuracy of the material. While it may also seem that this book is meant to
entertain (which we freely acknowledge), the primary goal of our work is to educate, espe-
cially through its holistic presentation of “exam-based” and “practice-based” Optics.
In this Optics textbook, we have attempted to maintain the content found in other books
historically, but we have also intentionally changed the context in which it has traditionally
been presented. We want this to be a resource that trainees will use early in their careers, and
one that seasoned practitioners will find useful for their day-to-day care of patients. Thus, we
have intentionally made this book into a relatively large, singular compendium of Optics infor-
mation. We hope that readers will find specific chapters of this “one-stop-shop” book of greater
interest depending on their training level, upcoming exam preparations, and/or primer for
clinical and surgical practice. Whether you are a first-year resident wanting to learn about
U+D=V or an experienced practitioner wanting to know about IOL calculation formulas, we
think this book is valuable for both kinds of readers – and if you read this book carefully, you
will see how both U+D=V and IOL formulas are intimately connected.
We are thankful to a number of people (listed in more detail in the Acknowledgments), but
perhaps, strangely enough, we are especially grateful for our health and opportunity during the
Great Quarantine of 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to be able to dedicate time and
effort toward the writing of this book. Since we did not have much to do while bunkered in our
homes, we were able to have an opportunity to work on this Optics textbook. This relationship
between quarantine and Optics is not a first: fittingly, the social distancing during the Great
Quarantine of 1665 allowed Sir Isaac Newton to embark upon a “year of wonders,” including
exploring Optics and experimenting with prisms and refraction. Similarly, Ibn al-Haytham
wrote his Optics magnum opus while under political quarantine (house arrest) for nearly a
decade. We do not suppose our work will be nearly as influential as Newton’s or Ibn al-Hay-
tham’s, but nonetheless, we whimsically observe the historical similarity of our situation
350 years later. We hope that our book is some small measure of good that comes out of this
troubling time. On a more solemn note, it is also why we dedicate our work to the memory of
every single human life lost during the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide.
We hope that you, dear reader, not only enjoy reading this book but can use this knowledge to
better care for your patients. The knowledge that our work may help you improve the vision and
lives of our fellow human beings is comforting. We hope we have continued the legacy of Ibn
al-Haytham and Newton for this new millennium and a new generation of Optics enthusiasts.

Oklahoma City, OK, USA Kamran M. Riaz

Acknowledgments

Through our work, we also hope to show our admiration for our many teachers and mentors
that have taught us Optics through their lectures, papers, and generous mentorship over the
years. We would be remiss not to recognize some of them at the very least: David Guyton, MD,
David Hunter, MD, Constance West, MD, Surendra Basti, MD, and Douglas Koch, MD. We
are also profoundly grateful and thoroughly indebted to the countless students, residents, and
colleagues we have met at various conferences, review courses, academic institutions, and
even online, who have provided feedback, encouragement, suggestions, and criticism (con-
structive and otherwise!) over the years to improve our manuscript.
The following residents and trainees deserve special recognition for serving as beta-­testers
and providing valuable suggestions as we wrote the text. They deserve particular recognition
for sacrificing valuable time during training to participate in this work:

1. Karl Becker, MD – Cook County/Stroger Hospital, Chicago, IL

2. Kristen Collister, MD – Dean McGee Eye Institute
3. David A. Murphy, MD – Dean McGee Eye Institute
4. Casey Smith, MD – University of Tennessee
5. Jacob Warmath, MD – Dean McGee Eye Institute
6. Asher Khan, MS4 – University of Oklahoma Medical School

The following colleagues similarly deserve acknowledgment for their critical review and
expertise in improving the text:

1. David L. Cooke, MD – Great Lakes Eye Care, St. Joseph, MI

2. Andrew T. Melson, MD – Assistant Professor, Dean McGee Eye Institute
3. Andrew Hou, MD – Cornea Fellow, Dean McGee Eye Institute
4. Rachel M. Caywood, OD, FAAO – Dean McGee Eye Institute
5. M. Edward Wilson, MD – Medical University of South Carolina
6. Thomas Clinch, MD – Eye Doctors of Washington, MD
7. Belinda Weinberg, OD – Washington DC
8. Suleiman Alibhai, OD – Washington DC

We would also like to thank everyone at SpringerNature Publishing, especially Mariah

Gumpert, Asja Rehse, and Michelle Tam for their editorial assistance with the production of
this work. We also want to acknowledge Jeffrey Taub and Vinodh Thomas (and their respective
teams) for proofreading and typesetting. Most publishers would have rejected and balked at the
idea of this kind of textbook. Some did. Thank you for taking a chance on this crazy project.
Individually, the editors would like to thank:
I would like to thank my teachers and mentors who shared their love of optics and teaching:
Dr. David Hunter, who passed a torch of teaching; Dr. Dave Guyton, who was never tired of
answering my questions at conferences and emails; and Dr. Connie West, for great teaching
gigs. I would like to thank my wife Wendy for supporting me, and my sons Mark and Peter for
allowing me to share the magic of light and physics on the back of many napkins.

ix
x Acknowledgments

– Vike Vicente
I’d like to thank my older brother, Ray (also ophtho), for telling me to get off my butt at the
end of medical school and start learning optics. It gave me a huge head start heading into my
ophthalmology residency. I’d like to thank the various ophthalmology residents and attendings
at the University of South Carolina, Northwestern University, and the University of Arizona for
allowing me to teach. I’m extremely grateful to Kamran and Vike for inviting me to be a part
of this book. Finally, I’d like to thank my wife, Lydia, and my kids, Nolan and Kyla, for their
unconditional love and support.
– Daniel Wee
I am grateful to my family for their support and patience over these past two years, espe-
cially my wife, Sanaa, and my three kids, Rabiyah, Nabeel, and Zaynab, for giving me the
time, freedom, and encouragement (along with peace and quiet) to embark upon, continue, and
finish this laborious project. I am also thankful to the wonderful folks at the Osler Institute for
allowing me to teach at the written and oral board review courses. They took a chance on a
novice lecturer in 2015 and allowed me to develop my teaching style while helping hundreds
of my colleagues pass their certification exams. I suppose I should also be thankful to several
people in the world of ophthalmology who doubted my abilities, questioned if I “belonged”,
and actively sought to hinder my academic career. Thank you for doubting me; I have chan-
neled that into a relentless desire to work harder and have realized that the best revenge is liv-
ing well. Finally, I dedicate this work to my mother, Fahmeeda Begum, MD, who initially
matched into ophthalmology but decided she wanted something more challenging and had a
brilliant career as an endocrinologist. You are the reason why I chose my career path so that
someday I could be as fractionally good, as a clinician and as a person, as you.
– Kamran Riaz
Contents

Part I Ophthalmic Optics for Written Exams

Geometric Optics ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   3

Kamran M. Riaz

Prisms in Ophthalmic Optics��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 15
G. Vike Vicente
Lenses����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 33
Daniel Wee

Mirrors and Combined Systems��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 49
Daniel Wee

Power of Lenses in Different Media ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 69
Kamran M. Riaz
Lens Effectivity������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 77
Kamran M. Riaz
Schematic Eye��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 85
Daniel Wee
Magnification and Telescopes ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 91
G. Vike Vicente
Accommodation and Presbyopia��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 111
G. Vike Vicente
Spherocylindrical Lenses��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 119
Kamran M. Riaz
Astigmatism������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 153
Daniel Wee
Glasses for Written Exams������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 167
G. Vike Vicente

Contact Lenses for Written Exams����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 177
G. Vike Vicente and Kamran M. Riaz

Physical Optics and Advanced Optical Principles����������������������������������������������������������� 185
G. Vike Vicente and Kamran M. Riaz

Part II Optics for Oral Exams and Clinical Practice


Glasses in Clinical Practice ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 219
Kamran M. Riaz

xi
xii Contents


Construction of Glasses (Ophthalmologists as Opticians) ��������������������������������������������� 229
Kamran M. Riaz

Optical Instruments and Machines����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 243
G. Vike Vicente
Visual Acuity Testing and Assessment������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 277
Kamran M. Riaz
Low Vision and Vision Rehabilitation������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 297
G. Vike Vicente

Contact Lenses in Clinical Practice����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 309
J. Scott Samples and Kamran M. Riaz

Clinical Problems with Optics and Refractive Manifestations��������������������������������������� 323
Daniel Wee and G. Vike Vicente

Optics for Clinical and Surgical Management of Strabismus ��������������������������������������� 339
G. Vike Vicente
Pediatric Optics������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 349
G. Vike Vicente
Myopia Control������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 357
G. Vike Vicente

Optics in Micro-Gravity and Zero-­Gravity Conditions ������������������������������������������������� 365
Shehzad Y. Batliwala and Kamran M. Riaz

Part III Optics for Surgical Practice


Preoperative Optics for Cataract Surgery����������������������������������������������������������������������� 373
Kamran M. Riaz

What’s on the Menu: An Overview of Currently Available IOLs
and Relevant Optics ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 397
Kamran M. Riaz

Intraoperative Optics for Cataract Surgery��������������������������������������������������������������������� 415
Kamran M. Riaz

Postoperative Optics for Cataract Surgery ��������������������������������������������������������������������� 425
Kamran M. Riaz

Optics for Refractive Surgery ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 439
Kamran M. Riaz
References, Suggested Reading, and Online Sources ����������������������������������������������������� 459
Index������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 461
Contributors

Shehzad Y. Batliwala, DO Department of Ophthalmology, Dean McGee Eye Institute,

Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Kamran M. Riaz, MD Dean McGee Eye Institute, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City,
OK, USA
J. Scott Samples, NCLE-AC Contact Lens, Dean McGee Eye Institute, Oklahoma City, OK,
USA
Dean McGee Eye Institute, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
G. Vike Vicente Clinical Pediatrics and Ophthalmology, Georgetown University Hospital,
Washington, DC, USA
Eye Doctors of Washington, Chevy Chase, MD, USA
Daniel Wee, MD Center for Sight, Stockton, CA, USA

xiii
 Part I
Ophthalmic Optics for Written Exams
 Geometric Optics

Kamran M. Riaz

Objectives lines (linear rays) (Fig. 1).1 This is also referred to as a “pen-
• To define and understand terminology used in Geometric cil” of light rays, even though no actual pencil that you can
Optics regarding: write with exists. The principles we will discuss in this chap-
–– Path of light rays ter will allow us to later discuss other topics, such as prisms,
–– Index of refraction lenses, and mirrors.
–– Divergent, parallel, and convergent light rays Finally, given the amount of time we will spend on this
• To define, understand, and give clinical examples of: world, it may also feel like we will age 20 years while doing
–– Refraction Geometric Optics.
Distortion and dispersion We will also make several other assumptions that we will
–– Reflection (including total internal reflection) point out as we discuss additional topics.
–– Diffraction

Light Rays in Geometric Optics

Introduction
A reality on this planet of Geometric Optics is that these lin-
When we consider Ophthalmic Optics as a universe, we can ear light rays do not like each other: They are naturally diver-
imagine the various types of optics, such as Geometric gent (mathematically represented as having negative
Optics, Physical Optics, and Quantum Optics, as different vergence), trying to get away from their neighbors as fast as
planets within this universe. If you have seen the movie
Interstellar (2014), then you may remember how each planet 1
Chaps. 1-13 “Geometric Optics”, “Prisms in Ophthalmic Optics”,
has its unique rules and circumstances. For example, time “Lenses”, “Mirrors and Combined Systems”, “Power of Lenses in
Different Media”, “Lens Effectivity”, “Schematic Eye”, “Magnification
runs differently on the water planet and gravity functions dif-
and Telescopes”, “Accommodation and Presbyopia”, “Spherocylindrical
ferently on the ice planet. Lenses”, “Astigmatism”, “Glasses for Written Exams”, and “Contact
When studying Ophthalmic Optics for the purposes of Lenses for Written Exams” of this book will primarily discuss princi-
written examinations, we will spend the majority of our time ples within Geometric Optics. Chap. 14, “Physical Optics”, will discuss
light in other forms, such as waves and particles. Quantum electrody-
in the world of Geometric Optics. There are several rules we
namics, which is the most comprehensive theory of light, unifying mac-
must follow and several assumptions that we will make on roscopic and microscopic properties of light, is (thankfully) beyond the
this planet, the foremost being that light travels in straight scope of this book.

K. M. Riaz (*)
Dean McGee Eye Institute, University of Oklahoma,
Oklahoma City, OK, USA

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 3

K. M. Riaz et al. (eds.), Optics for the New Millennium, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95251-8_1
4 K. M. Riaz

can see all three types of light rays when a pencil of light
encounters an aperture (Fig. 2).
When light rays are traveling along peacefully in a
medium, they may do one of the above three actions.
However, when they encounter an object, one or more things
may occur:

• Refraction
–– Distortion
–– Dispersion
• Reflection
• Absorption
• Diffraction
• Scattering
• Polarization

For our purposes in this chapter, we will further discuss

the first four of the above concepts in the next sec-
tions. Discussions pertaining to diffraction, scattering,
and polarization can be found in Chap. 14, Physical
Optics.

Refractive Index
Fig. 1 Light travels in linear rays in all directions in the world of
Geometric Optics Light rays will always travel the fastest in a vacuum (approx-
imately 300,000,000 m/s). We can compare this speed to
they can.2 However, if we operated with this understanding, other common materials, such as water, aqueous, and the
then we could not solve any Geometric Optics problems crystalline lens. The refractive index (n) is simply the ratio of
(which you might argue is a wonderful thing), so therefore the speed of light in a vacuum compared to the speed of light
we have to make another assumption: These divergent light in a given material. Since light travels faster in a vacuum, n
rays are also parallel (when originating from an extremely is always >1.
far away distance, which we refer to as “infinity”), which is We will discuss how changing the index of refraction can
an assumption we will make when we solve problems, such affect the power of lenses in Chap. 5.
as object–lens systems and Prentice’s Rule type of
problems.
Another assumption we will make is that light rays will Refraction
always travel from “left” to “right” when we draw these
problems out. As seen in the candle light figure above, light Refraction simply means that when light rays pass from one
travels in all directions, but for now, we will draw out most medium into another medium, the original path of traveling
problems with light rays coming in from the left side of the gets bent in a different direction. Technically, there is also a
diagram. However, the paths of light rays are reversible, and change in direction in waves as they pass from one medium
we will sometimes need to do this to understand why images into another, accompanied by a change in speed and wave-
form in a particular location, for example. length of the light ray. We are simplifying this phenomenon
Finally, when linear light rays get affected by an external and rebranding this as “bending of light rays.” The quality
source (e.g., a plus power lens), then some of these light rays and quantity of this bending depend on several factors, such
are considered to be convergent (mathematically represented as the type of medium (index of refraction) and the surface or
as having positive vergence) (Fig. 2). For completeness, barrier that the light ray encounters (e.g., a converging lens
external sources may also cause parallel rays to diverge, such vs. a diverging lens).
as when light rays pass through a minus-powered lens. We Snell’s Law of Refraction is a valuable tool to quantify
how strongly a ray of light is refracted (bent) when passing
2
In other words, light rays are good at practicing social distancing from one material to another. In other words, this law will
guidelines. give us information about the angle at which an incoming
Geometric Optics 5

b c d

Fig. 2 Panel a shows a pencil of light rays as it approaches an opening. At the opening, three different kinds of light rays may be seen: divergent
light rays (Panel b), parallel light rays (Panel c), and convergent light rays (Panel d)

light ray, after passing through the medium, exits that par- two mediums, there will be an increasing amount of refrac-
ticular medium. Snell’s Law is defined as follows: tion when a light ray passes from a medium of lower index of
refraction through a medium of higher index of refraction.
n sin φ = n′ sin φ ′.
Refraction not only occurs throughout Geometric Optics
The above equation simply states that if we know the 1) index but also has clinical relevance. Spherical eyeglasses and
of refraction of the first medium (n), 2) the angle at which the prisms used to quantify strabismus are two examples of
light ray strikes the medium (ɸ), and 3) the index of refraction refraction used in clinical practice. These topics will be dis-
of the second medium (n’), then we can determine the angle at cussed in greater detail in their respective sections.
which the light ray will exit the medium (ɸ’). Of course, we can Two other concepts are related to refraction: distortion
also solve any of the four variables used in the above equation if and dispersion.
we have information about the other three variables. Distortion refers to the visual perception of an observer to
At this point, you may be freaking out because the above refracted light rays. We can see the effects of distortion when
equation brings back awful memories of high school geometry a straw is placed in a glass of water (Fig. 4). To an observer,
and scientific calculators! The good news is that you will never the image of the straw above the water appears to be different
be asked to calculate this equation – remember that you will than the image seen below the water. This “distortion” is how
not be given access to a calculator for exams, so no one will the observer has perceived the refraction occurring at the air–
ever expect you to do this trigonometry math in your head. water interface.
Instead, we can focus on the critical lessons from Snell’s Law. A classic example often used in many optics textbooks is
One lesson is that light rays that travel from a lower refractive the “fisherman scenario.” The unfortunate fisherman is usu-
index medium (e.g., air, n = 1.0) into a higher refractive index ally standing at the edge of a pier (or rock) with a spear (why
medium (e.g., water, n = 1.33) will refract (be bent) toward the a spear, why not a fishing rod and line or even a net like a
norm. The norm is an artificially constructed line perpendicular to normal person?) and sees a fish in the water. Whereas you,
the interface between the two mediums, as seen in Fig. 3. A sec- dear reader, may need to know optics to pass your examina-
ond lesson is that light rays that travel through a medium of higher tions, he must rely on his knowledge of optics so that he can
refractive index and then encounter a medium of a lower refrac- catch his dinner (Fig. 5).
tive index will be bent away from the norm. The question that is typically asked in this scenario is as
The take-home message from Snell’s Law is that with an follows: Where must the fisherman throw his spear to hit the
increasing difference between two indices of refraction of fish? This question also assumes the fisherman is a world-­